This Isn't A Fairytale
by ZUTARiAN aNG3L
Summary: It's because of him that Katara's in the middle of all of this. It's all his fault for being caught in the wrong lifestyle. And it's because of him that he can do nothing to change it.


**This Isn't A Fairytale**

_***-Okay, so I was listening to an old song by Clay Aiken called "Measure A Man" today, and I came up with an idea for a story. Now, right about now, it's almost midnight, but I have to get this idea down. But anyways, have no ownings of avatar, how sad. I don't really write stories where Jet is one of the main characters, so please cut some mercy.! This is my first attempt at it! Hope you like it, so with all that said, scroll-y down and read pleez, thanx.! :P **_

Jet and Katara were just coming out of the mall. The day sky was bright and vivid, and birds chirped from high branches on trees. Katara smiled at the scenery as she walked down the sidewalk with her boyfriend, his arm around her shoulder. Jet pulled Katara tight to his waist, smiling down at the petite girl he was holding. He was glad to be given another chance with her, she was still angry at him for trying to use her at the time, but her friends helped to talk her into trusting him again. She was reluctant, and always kept her guard up, but she was beginning to truly trust Jet again.

"What do you want to do now?" Jet asked Katara, as they wondered down the sidewalks of Ba Sing Sei. Katara looked around, and made a "I don't know" sound, shrugging her shoulders. She looked up at him, his thick brown hair, waving around in the breeze. _He's beautiful_, Katara thought. She smiled, and pulled Jet into a hug. Jet seemed surprised, but he soon relaxed, and hugged Katara back.

"Okay, Kat?" He asked in a soothing tone, rubbing circles on his girlfriend's back. She looked up at him again, where he was smirking, making Katara turn away to hide her blush. She didn't know what was about this boy, but she seemed like, everytime she was around him, she always got a little nervous, like a child seeing their crush again. He laughed at Katara as she let him go and they continued walking, passing by a group of girls giggling away. Jet winked at one of them, and Katara saw him.

"What are you doing?" Katara asked, her fiesty attitude spilling out in her voice. Her eyes pierced through his, and he had to look away for a moment.

"Nothing Kat, nothing," Jet said, trying to dismiss the conversation all together. But, Katara wasn't going to be stopped that easily.

"Don't lie to me, Jet. I just knew this would happen," Katara said, mumbling some words after her statement.

"I'm sorry, Katara. I won't do it again, okay?" Jet said, his eyes pleading for her to forgive him. She gave in, and accepted his apology, trying to walk fast and away from Jet, but Jet pulled her back into his arms. He kissed her, and gave another one of his famous smirks to her. She giggled, and said," Prove to me that you're sorry," under her breath. He heard her say something, but it wasn't heard clearly, since she spoke it so low it was only meant to be heard by her.

"Sugar Queen! Wait up!" someone yelled out, that someone Katara knew as Toph. Toph was walking out the mall with Suki and Sokka on her right side and Aang holding her hand. She started running, Aang dragging along, while Sokka and Suki were behind them. They caught up to the couple, and smiled.

"How do you do that?" Suki asked Toph, looking down at the younger teen.

"Do what?" She asked, turning to face Suki.

"Go straight toward them when you're blind."

"I have my ways," Toph said, a devious smirk emerging from her face. "Anyways, why'd you and Pretty Boy leave us in the mall?" Toph said, turning to Katara.

"You stayed in the same store for about half an hour," Jet said.

"So?"

"You didn't even buy anything!"

"Well, I decided everything in there wasn't worth my time," Toph said, as everyone started walking. Jet groaned, and Suki laughed.

Aang began to lead the group to the nearby park, where it was pleasantly quiet, except for the occasional kids who ran by chasing each other. Toph layed down on the grass, smiling up at the clouds, while her faded, minty green eyes were in a distant stare. Everybody was around laughing, or doing something goofy. Sokka and Suki were playing some game Sokka made up, called 'warrior', where they both pretended that the tree branches they held were 'swords', and they were pretending they were in a battle. Aang was sitting on the limb of a tree, letting the wind breeze through his hair Katara and Jet were sitting with each other under another tree. Katara rested her head on Jet's shoulder, watching her friends run around the park. Jet smiled, and his phone began to ring loudly, shocking both himself and Katara. She lifted her head while Jet answered his phone.

"Hello?"

"Jet, where have you been?" the voice said impatiently.

"I told you I gave all that up now," Jet said, getting up and walking a distance away from the tree. Katara looked at him and only wondered what he was talking about and to whom.

"You don't have that option. Listen, their coming after us. We hold too much information, and they want us dead."

"How'd they find where we are?"

"They caught The Duke, and threatened to kill him if he didn't tell them where we were."

"He snitched?"

"No. He lied to them, and they later found out and tracked us down themselves."

"Damn. Smellerbee, where are the rest of the guys?"

"They tried to get The Duke earlier, and you're probaly next."

"Shit."

"You don't have long. About two days. Just protect yourself, Jet."

"Meet me behind Rai Shei Diner at eight. I'm going to protect y'all, too."

"Alright. Watch your back." Smellerbee said before she hung up. Jet walked back toward Katara and sat down. She looked at him, noticing he was furious, and his brown skin had a light tone of red on it.

"Jet, are you okay?" Katara asked, worried about her boyfriend.

"I'm fine, Katara," he said quickly, trying to hide his anger.

"No, you're not," Katara said under her breath, hanging her head down.

"Yes, I am," Jet said, shocking Katara. She didn't think he heard her, but she was wrong. His eyes were flaming, as he looked out into the park.

---

The night was dark and cold, light mist covering the sky as him and Katara were sitting outside of her house on her porch. Jet held her in his arms, as he kissed her forehead. He looked as his watch and noticed it was 7:45. He knew it was almost time to leave and sort out some business. Jet let go of Katara, and kissed her again, this time on the lips. He arose from the porch, and said to Katara,"I have to go." She looked at him, and wanted to keep him there with her, but she decided not to protest back, his face was dead serious. Jet walked off, and Katara watched until he was no longer able to see in the distance. She went back into her house, and went to her room. Katara jumped on her bed, and stared at the ceiling. _I know he's hiding something from me_, she thought, _I just can't think of what it is._

---

Jet walked through the chilling wind of the night. He was nearing the Rai Shei Diner, so her began walking a little faster. A couple of people were out walking around, holding hands, or carrying their bags from shopping at the stores that lined the streets. He looked behind him to make sure nobody was looking, or following him. He looked around the back of the restaurant and saw Longshot sitting on the dumpster, Pipsqeak leaning on a dirty crate against the building, The Duke pacing around by the back door, and Smellerbee just standing against the dumpster. They all looked toward Jet when he walked over to them, his face deep with fury, and his gaze strong and cold.

"Jet.." Smellerbee said, walking toward their leader.

"We're in deep trouble," Pipsqueak said, looking down on the cement covered ground.

"Don't we know it," The Duke mumbled, picking up a rock, and throwing it out in the distance.

"Look. All we are going to do is wait for them to take the first blow," Jet said, looking at everyone's faces.

"Are you crazy? Do you know how dangerous these guys are? They'll kill us dead the first chance they get. We can't take the risk, we're all we have," Smellerbee said, motioning around her, to the rest of the group.

"Listen, I doubt they'll be coming after you guys. Let me handle this. This is my mess, if it wasn't for me, we wouldn't even be in this at all," Jet said, looking at Smellerbee, than everyone else. Longshot sat on the dumpster, never saying a word.

"No, Jet. When we all met, we promised to protect each other. That's not about to change. Live or die, we will always be Freedom Fighters," The Duke said, stopping himself from pacing around.

"That's right," Pipsqeak said, looking at Jet.

"So what do we plan to do?" Jet said.

"Wait for them to signal they'll be coming after us. When we ge that signal, we take the first blow, and do whatever we can to protect ourselves," Smellerbee said.

Jet smirked, and looked at the girl before him,"Smart plan."

"Thanks, somebody had to take charge when we couldn't find you," Smellerbee said, smiling up at Jet.

"Speaking of that, where were you living if you weren't living with us in the lobby of Wui Yeh Hei?" The Duke said, wondering where he was.

"Rein's Sushi, out back," he answered.

"Coming back to live with us?" Pipsqeak asked.

"Yeah," he said, as they walked off together toward their shelter.

---

Jet was walking to Katara's house when his phone rang once again. He pulled it out of his pocket, and looked at the number. He didn't recognize it, but he answered it anyway.

"Hello?"

"One Day."

"What?"

"The drugs, the money, the everything. One day to return it. Or you die."

"I don't have any of that."

"Then you die." The voice said, before the line went dead. He flipped his stolen phone closed, and put it back into his pocket. Jet continued his walk to Katara's house, hoping she didn't see the worriness and hate in his face. He knocked on the door, and Katara opened it, her side ponytail bouncing up off her shoulder. She smiled at him, and closed the door behind her as she walked outside. They walked down the street and looked in the stores that lined the street. They didn't go in any of them, because neither one had enough money to afford anything.

Jet hardly said a word the entire time they were walking, and Katara knew something was wrong. She walked him over to a bench by one of the boardwalk stores. She looked at him with a look of concern. _Damn, Katara, why do you notice everything? _Jet thought. He couldn't look her in her eyes, it was too painful for him. Jet wished he could tell her everything, but he couldn't, he just couldn't. Katara opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off when Smellerbee, Longshot, and The Duke came walking up to Jet.

"Jet, we need you. Something happened," The Duke said, looking at Jet with horrific eyes. Jet arose from the bench, while Katara just sat looking at the scene, confused about everything.

"What? Where's Pipsqueak?" Jet asked, becoming enraged. He pulled out a knife shaped like a fish hook from his side pocket, and gripped to it tightly. Katara saw and jumped up from the bench.

"I thought you said you were done with that," she said, looking Jet straight in his eyes. He looked away, then looked back at her, his eyes glowing with a tint of sadness.

"I did, Katara. But, this has nothing to with that. Just trust me, I need to go solve a problem," he said.

"What problem?"

"An old one. Listen, Katara, I'll tell you later. They need me," he said, walking off with his group, leaving Katara standing alone. She didn't know what to think as she watched him walk off.

_I wish he would tell me what he's hiding from me_, Katara thought as she began to walk back down the street. She was passing by The Jasmine Dragon, Jet's friend's uncle's tea shop, and decided to go in. She sat at a booth by the window, just thinking. She knew she couldn't afford anything, but she just liked the carefree atmospere, and the pleasant aroma of tea brewing in the back. She saw a waiter, about her age, walk up to her, asking to take her order._ He looks familiar_, Katara thought, as she told the waiter she was thinking about which tea she was going to order(even though that was a lie, she was broke).

The waiter began to walk off, and she yelled after him,"Wait!" The waiter turned around and looked at Katara. "Aren't you Jet's friend? Zuko right?" she asked. The waiter looked behind him, and sat at the booth with Katara.

"Yeah, why? And aren't you his girl?" he asked, leaning back onto the seat.

"Yeah I am. Have talked to him lately?"

"Mmm-hmm, a couple of days back," he said, curious as to where this conversation was going,"Why you asking?"

"Jet's been acting-I don't know, weird lately. I know he's hiding something, and I was wondering if you knew," she answered, looking around the tea shop. Zuko turned tense at her comment, and leaned off of the seat.

"Listen, umm-Katara, I know you're worried and you really care for him and all that. But, if he wanted you to know, he would've told you. Yeah, to answer your question, I do know what he's hiding. Not to be rude, but none of it concerns you. Take this, watch where you are anytime you and him are together," Zuko said, his eyes flaming hot, and his stare cold. Zuko noticed she was looking sad on her side of the table. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," he said awkwardly.

"You didn't. It's just-I'm worried for him," she said, looking down on the floor.

"We all are," Zuko said suddenly. "They never stop," he mumbled, groaning. She looked up at him, and saw his face was glowing with fury and hate. He caught her gaze and gave her a small smile, trying to lighten the mood. She returned the smile, and wondered what Jet could be doing now.

--

"Where's Pipsqueak?" Jet asked again as they walked off from Katara.

"That's what we came to tell you," Smellerbee said, looking up at Jet.

"He got shot," The Duke said sadly.

"He's still alive, but they got him pretty deep. I guess they aimed for his heart, but missed and shot his ribs," Smellerbee siad, when she saw Jet's face grow cold. His face softened a little, at the news that he wasn't dead.

"So where is he?" He asked.

"Behind Wui Yeh Hei with Yirena. She's trying to help him recover. When we left to get you, she was taking the bullet out of his skin," The Duke answered.

"Where are they?" Jet asked, furious at the fact of what they attempted to do.

"We don't know."

"Well we're going to find them," Jet said, his steps grew more fierce by the minute, anger spilling from his voice.

"Jet, it's too dangerous," Smellerbee said, getting worried.

"We're going to find them," Jet repeated again.

---

Katara still sat at the booth in The Jasmine Dragon. It was getting dark outside, and the street lights were just now flicking on. She rested her head in the palm of her hand as she looked around the tea place. Zuko was serving the table across from her booth, and his uncle, Iroh, was out back stirring the tea. She let out a sigh, and looked back down on the carpet that covered the small tea cafe. The bell above the door to the place rung as the door opened to reveal two tall men dressed in dark green with hats that were the color of brown bamboo, yellow shades, and hair pulled into a ponytail. They looked over to where Katara was. She was paying no mind to the people in front of her as she stared down onto the carpet.

Zuko looked up from the table he was serving and looked at the men. At an instant, he already knew who they were. He hurried and put the tea tray down on the counter as he walked over to the men who were talking to Katara. He could tell that she looked scared, so he walked quickly over to her. ", where is he?" A voice said as another tall man emerged from behind the two men. Katara just looked at them, she didn't know what to think.

"Why would I tell you that?" Zuko growled at the man.

"Because I don't think you want to die today," the man said back, keeping calm.

"I don't think you want to either, Long Feng," Zuko said. _What are they talking about? _Katara thought, noticing there was obvious tension between Zuko and the man who's name was said to be Long Feng.

"Zuko, Zuko, Zuko. Still that arrogant boy as always, huh? Listen, tell me where Jet is, or you and this girl die a slow death," Long Feng said, his voice calm, but cold. He gestured toward Katara, and lookd back at Zuko. Zuko grew even more angry, and attempted to push Long Feng, he was stopped by the two men standing on both sides of Long Feng.

"Wrong move, Zuko. I suggest you learn to keep control of your anger, you never could control it. Now, I'm going to ask you one more time, where is Jet?" Long Feng said.

"I told you I'm not telling you," Zuko said coldly. Long Feng looked disgusted, and he thrust his hand up to Zuko's neck.

"Look boy, I'm not going to deal with this. You better be lucky I'm not after you, cause I would've killed you dead before you had a chance to speak," Long Feng said, drawing attention to the scene.

He pulled Zuko by the neck outside the shop, and motioned for his guards to take Katara with them. They went out behind the tea shop so that no one would see them. The guard that was holding Katara pulled her wrists to her back and slammed her against the back wall. Long Feng let go of Zuko, and walked over to Katara. The other guard was holding Zuko by his wrists, Zuko tried escaping, but the man held tightly to him.

"Girl, what relation do you have to Jet?" Long Feng asked when he reached Katara. She looked at him, her face showing obvious confusion and fear.

"I'm his girlfriend," Katara answered slowly. A devious grin spread across Long Feng's face at hearing the information.

"Hmm, girlfriend. We can do a lot with you," Long Feng said as he pulled out his phone.

---

Jet's stolen, scratched phone rung as they made it to where Pipsqeak was laying. Yirena was by his side wrapping up the wound, and cleaning it up with a wet towel. He lay there letting out painful grunts, closing his eyes shut as she made contact with his skin. Jet pulled out his phone and flipped it open as he stared at the boy on the ground.

"Hello?"

"We have your girlfriend."

"What?" Jet yelled into the phone, causing Smellerbee and The Duke to look over at him.

"We have her. We'll kill her dead if you don't bring me what I need."

"You're lying," Jet said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, am I?" Long Feng said. A noise was heard on the other line of the phone, and Jet stayed listening.

"Jet?" _Oh no, _Jet thought.

"Katara.....get out of there," Jet said.

"I can't, Jet. They're holding me too tight,"

"Where are you right now?"

"Behind The Jasmine Dragon." Jet heard a scream, and a muffled voice at the end of her statement."Jet, please, help me!" she yelled.

"I'm coming for you, Katara. I won't let them hurt you."

"Wrap it up," Jet heard in Katara's background.

"Please hurry."

"I love you, girl. Remember that," Jet said, before another noise was heard from her background.

"Bring it now or I'll kill her," Long Feng said.

"I'm coming now," Jet said before he hung up the phone. Smellerbee looked at Jet, who was gripping his hook-shaped swords tight in his hands.

"What's wrong?" She asked. She's seen Jet angry before, but this was way over anger. This was pure hate.

---

Jet ran down to Zuko's uncle's tea shop, Longshot and Smellerbee following behind him. The Duke stayed with Pipsqueak and Yirena, just in case Long Feng's crew decided to come back for another shot. Jet pulled out his swords as he walked behind the cafe. He saw his best friend, Zuko, pushed in a corner between the wall and the dumpster tied with ropes around his wrists and feet. Zuko's hair was dirty and messy as he sat in the corner. Jet saw Long Feng standing right by his girlfriend, who was surrounded by two other men, part of Long Feng's security. She was slammed onto the wall, bruises covering her cheek. Her face was stained with tears, and her voice was strained as she cried for them to let her go. Long Feng looked over to Jet, and another grin emerged from his face.

"I knew you'd come for her. Thing is, you look empty handed. Where the hell is my stuff?" Long Feng asked, as he walked toward Jet, his hand deep inside his pocket.

"I told you I didn't have it," Jet growled back at Long Feng.

Long Feng chuckled, and walked back over to Katara. From his pocket, he pulled out a silver pistol and aimed it at Katara head, as he pulled her off the wall by her hair. Katara screamed, and her eyes bugged out as she looked at the gun that was pointing at her from the corner of her eyes. Jet's eyes ran wild as he swung his arm back and threw his sword. Long Feng noticed before the sword even left Jet's hand, and directed his gun straight toward Jet.

_POW!_

"NOOO!!" Katara screamed as she watched Jet fall to the ground. Hot tears streamed from her face as she pulled away from Long Feng's grip and ran to Jet's side. Zuko sucked up air as he watched his only friend fall right in front of him. He struggled his hands up toward the edge of the dumpster, moving them quickly to let the rope fall from his wrists as his hands went down to his feet to untangle the ropes tied on them. He jumped up and ran to Jet just as Katara did. And for the first time since his mother left, he cried. Katara collapsed onto Jet's body, bawling and coughing harder with each second.

Jet was in deep pain, his eyes were open slightly, but no one noticed. _Don't worry, Kat, I'll be fine_, Jet thought, in too much of pain to say a word. His eyes slowly closed shut, as his heart stopped beating, and his sight went blank.

"Foolish boy," Long Feng said, as he looked down at the dead figure below him. Neither Katara or Zuko looked up to see him as he walked away from the scene, his security right behind him. Smellerbee was sitting at Jet's side, crying like both of the teenagers across from her. Longshot sat in silence, just looking at Jet's body before him.

"We have to call for help," Katara struggled to say, as she began to pull out her phone. To her surprise, Longshot reached over to her and pushed the cell phone back into her pocket.

"No. We'll watch after him," Longshot said, surprising everyone. He hardly ever said a word. Smellerbee looked at Longshot, then back at Jet.

"Yeah, he was our leader. He was our family," Smellerbee said, more tears screaming down her face.

---

Three days passed since the death of her boyfriend. She sat down on the couch in her living room, tears still streaming down her face as she flicked throught the channels. Her brother wasn't home, and she hadn't yet told him of what happened to Jet. Her Gran-Gran wasn't hom either, she left a couple of days ago to go visit Pakku. So, Katara was alone in the house, her head throbbing, and her eyes bloody red as she looked at the blinking screen before her. _Its all my fault_, she thought, as she looked at the commercial that was blinking on the screen.

_"New! Available now on dvd! Watch and wrap yourself in a timeless classic fairytale! Yours to own! Get it now, and live in the magic of this story! Let your life thrust in the wonderful fairytale! Buy now!"_ The commercial said.

_When was my life ever a fairytale? Because if it was, there would always be happy endings, _Katara thought, memories rushing through her head, and tears streaming even faster down her face. She turned the t.v. off and threw the remote onto the floor, as she reached for a pillow and stretched her body across the couch. But her life wasn't a fairytale. It was reality, and it never turns out the way you planned.

* * *

_***-Yeah, so I finished a couple of days later because I got a little tired. But did you like it? Was it good? Should I write more Jetara? I don't know, if I were to write another Jetara, I don't know what it would be about, but if you think I should, suggest something! Thanxx for reading and hoped you liked! Reviews are appreciated! Bye! :) -***_

* * *


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